It was the second straight year the contest that lends an air of Oxford to BC was won by the student from Oxford, Mass.
The Fulton Prize Debate has a gloried history at BC, where in the early years the annual debate was a highlight of the academic year. Previous Fulton Medal winners included James Michael Curley Jr. '29, son of the famed Boston mayor; Lawrence J. Riley '36, who went on to be auxiliary bishop of Boston, and John J. Curtin Jr. '54, JD '57, who would later be president of the American Bar Association. Two years ago, Mario Powell '03 became the first freshman and first African-American to win the prize.
Ben Bireley '05 received the sterling silver Gargan Medal as second-best speaker in the competition.
The question debated was whether the United States federal government should reform Social Security by privatizing a portion of the retirement benefits. Hartzell teamed with Christopher Schroeck '04, last year's Gargan medalist, in arguing against privatization, while Bireley and Jim Smith '04 took the affirmative. The affirmative carried the night, although Hartzell once again won the top-speaker honor.
-Mark Sullivan